New Wave Herbs & Spices

Our cabnets have been enhancing the cooking experience of many since 1970.
But herbs and spices have been enhancing the flavor of foods for centuries.
Herbs and spices are as ancient as civilization itself, and here's your chance
to find out more about them.

BASIL

The spicy, minty flavor of sweet basil adds character
to a variety of ethnic cuisine, from Italian to Thai, and is particularly tasty
with tomatoes. For a great recipe that uses basil,
click here.

Fun fact:

There are many varieties of basil that you could
experiment with in your dishes. Opal basil has a peppery flavor and a dark
color; anise basil adds the taste of licorice; then there are lemon and
cinnamon basil that are flavored just like their names state. Try your local
gourmet food store for these different basils.

BAY
LEAF

AKA:

Bay laurel, Grecian laurel, sweet laurel

Native to:

The Mediterranean

Parts used:

Leaf

Preparation:

These leaves are widely used in stews, soups and hearty sauces,
and can even add nice flavor to the water when boiling potatoes or pasta. Bay
leaves should always be added early in the cooking process, as they require a
good deal of simmering to release their flavor. But they can hold their shape
for hours, and can be easily removed if you desire when the dish is ready to be
served. To see a recipe that uses bay leaves,
click here.

Fun fact:

Though
the bay leaf is from a laurel tree, certain laurels should be avoided. Both the
mountain laurel and cherry laurel can be potentially lethal. Your best bets are
the leaves you'll find in the trusty spice jar at your local grocery store.

CAPERS

Native to:

Southern Europe, the Mediterranean

Parts used:

Flower
buds

Preparation:

Capers are an ideal addition to sauces and stews, adding a zesty,
salty burst of flavor in every biteful.

Fun fact:

The
caper has baffled many with the question, what is it? Capers are the small
flower buds of a small, spiny shrub, picked before they open and cured in a bath
of vinegar or a mixture of vinegar and salt.

CHILI
POWDER

Native to:

The American Southwest

Preparation:

A
combination of mostly cayenne (red) pepper, plus cumin, oregano, salt and garlic
powder, chili powder is a spicy ingredient used to flavor chili and fajitas. To
enrich the flavor of chili powder, add just a pinch of a sweet spice, like
allspice, cinnamon, cloves or onion powder. For a spicy recipe using chili
powder, click here.

Fun fact:

A little
too hot for you? The spiciness of chili powder is oil based, so if you have too
much, drinking a glass of water won't help. Instead, try a glass of milk or a
beer, as milk and alcohol help to break up the capsaicin (the hot stuff) in the
chili powder.

CINNAMON

Native to:

Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Borneo

Parts used:

Bark

Preparation:

The taste of cinnamon is recognizable on any tongue.
Its warm, sweet fragrance is widely used in everything from rice puddings and
fruit pies to ethnic meat dishes and stews. For a tasty recipe using cinnamon,
click here.

Fun fact:

Both cinnamon and cassia can be purchased as
sticks that look very similar to one another. But there's a way to tell the
difference. A true cinnamon stick will resemble a quill with a single tube. A
cassia stick is rolled from both sides into the middle.

CLOVES

Native to:

East Indies (Indonesia)

Parts used:

Flower
bud

Preparation:

Rarely used on its own, cloves are often combined with other sweet
spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon and used in a variety of dishes from desserts
to main courses. To try a recipe that uses cloves,
click here.

Fun fact:

The oil
found in cloves is often used to perfume cosmetic items, including toothpaste,
soap and body lotion.

CREAM
OF TARTAR

Preparation:

A pinch of cream of tartar added to egg whites before
beating will help stabilize the foam. It also prevents the proteins in the white
from coagulating (copper ions that flake off a copper bowl during this process
do the same thing, that's why many chefs beat egg whites in copper bowls).

Fun fact:

Cream of tartar is derived from white crystals found naturally in
the lees, or sediment, of grapes that have been fermented in the making of wine.

CURRY
POWDER

Native to:

India

Preparation:

Curry powder is actually a conglomeration of 16 to 20
spices, including coriander seed, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, white pepper,
allspice, yellow mustard seed, red pepper and ginger. It forms the basis of the
exotic flavors in curry dishes across India and Asia, but has other delightful
uses as well. Sprinkle a bit over an apple, then bake it, or heat up applesauce
and add a pinch of curry. For a unique way to use curry in a recipe,
click here.

Fun fact:

Here's
how to make your own curry powder:

1 tsp. powdered cinnamon

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

4 tbsp. coriander seeds

1 tsp. cumin seeds

1 tsp. fennel seeds

1 tsp. fenugreek seeds

3 tsp. powdered turmeric

In a clean coffee bean grinder, or
with a mortar and pestle, grind spices into powder and add to dish in same
amounts as indicated for curry powder.

This curry recipe can be enhanced
with other spices like mustard seeds, saffron, ginger, cloves and cardamom.

DILL

Native to:

Europe

Parts used:

Leaves, fruit ("seeds")

Preparation:

While it gives its name to the pickles we all know
and love, the light, fragrant taste of dill is ideal for fish and vegetable
dishes as well. Try a little in potato salad, or infused into a tomato soup. But
don't cook it too long, as it loses its flavor. Find out how to use dill in a
recipe by clicking here.

Fun fact:

Dill seeds taste like caraway seeds, and can be used
in rye bread.

FENNEL

Native to:

Europe, Asia Minor

Parts used:

Leaves, dried ripe fruit

Preparation:

There
many kinds of fennel, such as Florence fennel that can be eaten like celery, and
the sweet fennel whose fruit is used as an herb in stuffings, soups and stews.
For a recipe that uses fennel, click
here.

Fun fact:

For something new and different on the grill, add sprigs
of fennel to your coals to give fresh grilled fish or chicken a delicate
licorice flavor and aroma.

GINGER

AKA:

Gingerroot

Native to:

Southern Asia

Parts used:

Root

Preparation:

Always use fresh ginger, and choose only
those roots with smooth skin. Ginger should be treated like garlic, as it gets
milder when cooked, but bitter when burned. Add it to flavor Asian pork
dumplings, or use it in a marinade for fish, or even sprinkle a pinch in your
tea to calm a head cold. The pink ginger you find in Japanese restaurants is
marinated in lemon juice and salt; the lemon juice turns it pink. You can see
a wonderful recipe that uses ginger by clicking
here.

Fun fact:

Ginger is actually a distant relative of the
banana, and its name is derived from the Latin translation of the Sanskrit word
singbera, meaning "shaped like a horn."

NUTMEG

AKA:

Myristica

Native to:

Indonesia

Parts used:

Seed kernel

Preparation:

The scent and taste of nutmeg has developed celebratory
connotations, as it's a delicate topper for holiday drinks and a fragrant
ingredient in special desserts. If using whole nutmeg, keep in mind that one
whole grated nutmeg equals 2 to 3 tsps. of ground nutmeg. For a delicious
recipe using nutmeg, click here.

Fun fact:

Nutmeg, in large doses, can produce a hallucinatory, disoriented
effect. High doses can actually be fatal.

SAFFRON

Native to:

Western Asia, Southern Europe

Parts used:

Stigma

Preparation:

Saffron is perhaps the dearest seasoning on the planet, so it's a
good thing that a little goes a long way to color and flavor soups, rice dishes
and stews. Keep saffron in a dark, cool place, as it is highly light sensitive.

Fun fact:

Ever wondered why saffron is the world's most expensive spice? It
takes 60,000 crocus flowers to yield one pound of saffron.

THYME

Native to:

Southern Europe

Parts used:

Leaves

Preparation:

Thyme is an herb that keeps its flavor well when dried.
So it's simple to keep in the spice cupboard and use in all kinds of sauces,
salads, soups and stews. For a recipe using thyme,
click here.

Fun fact:

Did you know there are more than 100 different varieties of thyme?
They come from all parts of Europe and echo flavors like lemon, nutmeg, pine,
mint, even licorice